Cross-talk between ganglion-cell photoreceptors and other neurons in the retina

视觉系统的一个功能是能够有意识地感知环境中的空间细节;这 需要视网膜中的视杆细胞和视锥细胞。视觉系统也能调节潜意识， 非成像光调节各种生理功能，如瞳孔反射和 将我们的生物钟重置为太阳周期。未能适当调节这些附件视觉 反应导致广泛的健康问题，包括抑郁症，睡眠障碍，甚至是“ 癌非成像光感受不仅利用视杆细胞和视锥细胞，而且还利用最近发现的 神经节细胞光感受器，即内在光敏视网膜神经节细胞（ipRGC），最近 研究表明，ipRGCs与其他视网膜神经元双向相互作用：双极细胞和无长突细胞 饲料杆/锥驱动的光响应ipRGC，虽然这些神经节细胞信号的内在 双极和无长突细胞的光反应。这项资助使用电生理学和成像方法， 研究啮齿动物视网膜中突触相互作用的两个方向，包括三个目标：（1）识别ON 双极细胞，通过细胞内记录来支配ipRGC并分析其光反应 从ON双极细胞，然后进行细胞内染料填充的荧光成像;（2）分析 通过测试激活或抑制受体的化学物质， 这些神经调质;和（3）识别双极和无长突细胞，接受突触输入从 ipRGCs，通过使用细胞内记录在无杆细胞中寻找光敏双极细胞和无长突细胞， 无视锥视网膜这些研究的结果将使我们更好地理解视杆/视锥细胞信号是如何传递的。 调节我们的身体码头，瞳孔反射和其他非图像形成感光行为，并将 还提供了有关ipRGC如何调节杆/锥回路，从而调节有意识视觉的线索。 perception.这一新知识可能对开发睡眠药物和光疗法有用 问题和抑郁症，设计更好的工作场所政策和学校时间表，以促进 提高警觉性和最大限度地提高生产力，以及开发更健康的照明技术。

One function of the visual system is to enable conscious perception of spatial details in tlie environment; this requires the rod and cone photoreceptor cells in the retina. The visual system also mediates subconscious, non-image-forming photic regulation of various physiological functions such as the pupil reflex and the resetting of our body clocks to the solar cycle. Failure to properly regulate these accessory visual responses results in a wide range of health problems including depression, sleep disorders, and even' cancer. Non-image-forming photoreception utilizes not only rods and cones but also the recently discovered ganglion-cell photoreceptors, i.e. the intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs), Recent studies suggested that ipRGCs Interact bidirectionally with other retinal neurons: bipolar and amacrine cells feed rod/cone-driven light responses to ipRGCs, vifhile these ganglion cells signal their intrinsic photoresponses to bipolar and amacrine cells. This grant uses electrophysiological and imaging methods to study both directions of synaptic interactions In rodent retinas and comprises three goals: (1) To Identify ON bipolar cells that innervate the ipRGCs and analyze their light responses, through intracellular recordings from ON bipolar cells followed by fluorescence Imaging of intracellular dye fills; (2) To analyze the effects of amacrine-csll neuromodulators on ipRGCs, by testing chemicals that either activate or inhibit the receptors for these neuromodulators; and (3) To Identify bipolar and amacrine cells that receive synaptic Input from ipRGCs, by using intracellular recordings to search for light-sensitive bipolar and amacrine cells in rodless coneless retinas. Findings from these studies will enable a better understanding of how rod/cone signals regulate our body docks, the pupil reflex and other non-image-forming photosensory behaviors, and will also provide clues as to how the ipRGCs might modulate rod/cone circuits and hence conscious visual perception. This new knowledge may be useful for the development of drugs and light therapies for sleep problems and depression, the design of better workplace policies and school schedules to promote alertness and maximize productivity, and the development of healthier lighting technologies.